Chairoi Hitomi, chapter one: By my Side
by dreamsindigital
Summary: What if you got a second chance to tell someone you loved them? (hintings of Yaoi/Shonen-ai)


Title: Chairoi Hitomi chapter one: By My Side

Authors: Blaize and ~Dreams_in_Digital~

Rating: PG-13 for language and adult situations

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" I need another, like a brother, for a crying shoulder.

This could be the last time, you will stand by my side

I can feel my soul bleeding.." By My Side--3 Doors down

~~~~~~~

Ishida Yamato paced the dreary grey corridors of the hospital, tears filling his pure azure eyes. He knew he should return to the others; he was just supposed to get coffee. They were waiting for him in the cramped sitting room, but he couldn't go back. The stress and anxiety in that room suffocated him, and he knew he couldn't face Mimi at a time like this. They were all waiting.. waiting for what? Waiting for someone to die? They all knew there was no hope left, he was dying. It was to be expected, of course. They were all aging; their teenage days full of fighting crime long gone. The carefree days they spent in colleges thousands of miles away from each other and the blissful reunion when they all moved to Tokyo were mere memories. Now Jyou, the oldest, was nearing 65 and Iori, the youngest, was hitting 57. Now, one of the words they had dreaded most for the past 20 years had arisen, bubbling to the surface like boiling lava. Cancer. None of them could believe it, though it was highly probable. It had happened so suddenly; one day he was being himself, acting happy/stupid like always at Daisuke's 59th birthday party, the next, he was lying in a hospital bed having a bone marrow test done to see how much of the cancer had taken over his body. It was hopeless. Stage four... He had dropped to his knees when he heard the news. Their fearless leader, the one who had kept them fighting until they had demolished the bad guys. He was so full of life; they had never expected him to be the one to go first. His shining eyes the color of melted chocolate; they always sparkled with life. Yagami Taichi was dying. It could be any day now. Yamato couldn't take it any more. He ran into the men's bathroom and threw up. He retched until everything he had eaten the past three days had come up, which wasn't much. He slowly rose on two shaky legs and walked over to the row of sterile white sinks. His hand dragged across the smooth handle of the sink. He let the water pour over his hands and wrists, letting the cool water hit the pressure point right at the joint of his wrist; a stress-relieving technique he had learned from his mother before his parents divorced. He glanced up at his reflection; there were dark bluish purple blotches under his eyes and his skin had a sickly yellow look to it. "I'm a mess," he said out loud, ignoring the look of the man who was using one of the sterile white urinals. He thought of Taichi's small figure barely defined by the ridges and valleys in the cheap hospital blanket.... the bile started to rise again, tickling the very back of his throat. He ran back into one of the stalls and slammed the door. When he was finished cleansing himself, he realized that he had to go back to the cramped waiting room. If not for himself, he had to do it for his friends, for his brother, for Mimi. As he walked slowly back down the corridors, he tried to concentrate on the sounds of the hospital instead of Taichi. He heard heart monitors, the rhythmic clicking of high heels, and then, the monotonous beep that every person waiting dreads hearing. Yamato stopped abruptly in the hallway, looking every way, trying to figure out from which room the demonic sound was coming. Not being able to think rationally, he broke from his stance and dashed through the coridors to Taichi's room. As he arrived at the door, heaving, he said a quick prayer to every god he could think of and pushed the door open. _Arigato, Kamisama_, Yamato thought. It wasn't Taichi's life that had fled. He walked over to the bedside, cooly pulling up a chair and sitting beside his best friend. Taichi was laying on his back, and he appeared soundly asleep; his hand resting lightly on the blanket beside his body. Yamato grabbed it, longing to feel the warmth of his work-roughened skin one more time. One last time. He felt his eyes water slightly as he rubbed his thumb in circles on the bottom of Taichi's palm. 

"We're a bit old to be holding hands, don't you think, Yamato?" 

Taichi opened his magnificent eyes as he chuckled to himself. 

"Nice to know you haven't lost your sense of humour, Taichi." 

Yamato snapped, "How long have you been awake?" His cold blue eyes flashed joy despite the tone of his voice. 

"If you knew you were dying, would you go to sleep?" Taichi said softly, looking at the cold white walls. 

"I..I guess I.." Matt paused, the full effect of Taichi's words hitting him with the force of a thousand sledgehammers. "Taichi, don't talk like that! How can you.... not in a time like this..." Yamato dropped Taichi's hand and turned away, not wanting his best friend to see the tears that had appeared glistening in his eyes. 

"Look, Matt... Dont' worry about me, now. It's gotta happen sometime, you know?" Taichi said, unusually optomistic about the grim topic. 

"You never were any good with words, were you?" Yamato plastered a smile on his face, but the façade was crumbling. 

Taichi sighed and his face contracted at a sudden spasm of pain. "It's coming, I can feel it. Could you... could you please send them in? Start with Jyou." Matt saw him grit his teeth. He turned and walked through the door. 

He walked down the hall towards the waiting room, thinking about what he was to say to all of them. He took a deep breath as he opened the door solemnly and looked around at all of them. Hikari and Takeru sat closest to the door, their hands clasped tightly. 

Hikari looked at Yamato, her eyes wide, searching for some news of her brother. He assured her Taichi was okay without speaking. Hikari and Takeru. The youngest of the first group of digidestined and the only with angel digimon, they had always been somehow expected to become a couple and eventually marry. The suggestion of arranged marriage had come up between their families but the two young best friends had brushed it off quickly. Daisuke sat next to Takeru, his olive skinned face buried in his hands. Ken, who was stitting next to Daisuke, stared at his best friend with a worried expression on his face. He was clinging to Daisuke's shoulder as a giver and receiver of support. Miyako fingered her long violet hair nervously as she looked at her shoes and held Ken's hand in friendship, no more. Sora and Jun sat together a little ways from the rest. Sora had tears streaming down her face and Jun was stroking her greying hair and whispering in Sora's ear. Jyou was consoling Mimi across the room. Yamato felt bad for her. If anyone had been as close as he was to Taichi, it was Mimi. Tears streamed down her face and fell into her still lustrious golden hair. She loved Tai, everyone knew she had for a long time, at least after Matt had broken up with her for reasons unknown. About a week after they had finally started living together, Taichi was diagnosed. She looked up at Matt who sat beside her, her eyes red and swollen. "Is... is he okay?" She asked between sobs. 

"Yeah, he's okay, for now." He felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes. "Jyou, he asked for you." He quickly looked at Jyou and then glanced away. Jyou got up and left the room. Koushirou was no where to be found, he was a doctor at the hospital. 

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About an hour passed and each of Taichi's friends and loved ones went in to see him until it was down to Mimi and Yamato. Hikari had gone in last and had been in there the longest of all of them, but she soon returned, tears afresh on her face. "Mi..Mimi, he wants to s..see you." Hikari whimpered, barely able to get it out. She poured herself into Takeru's arms and sobbed into his shirt. Yamato was surprised. Tai wanted his final goodbye to be with him? Mimi got up and rushed down the hall. He could hear her heels clicking on the floor as she ran. He sighed and looked at his shoes until Mimi came back forty minutes later, unable to speak. Matt needed nobody to tell him to go, he just got up and went. 

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When Matt reached Tai's bedside and sat down, he started to speak but Taichi stopped him. "I.. I don't have much time, so let me talk, okay?" Taichi breathed deeply, and as he exhaled Matt could hear his lungs rattling. 

"Okay.." Matt said reluctantly. He had something he needed to get off his chest before..

"You know you're my best friend, and.. well, I want you to take care of Mimi for me, okay? I hope you two can put away your differences and be happy together for me. Also, make sure Hikari is kept safe; keep her away from..not nice people. Uhh.. " Taichi paused as he thought. 

Matt seized the opportunity. "Tai there's something I have to tell you. I think of you as... I.. You're.. more than a best friend to me. I.. I.. You're.." Tai cut him off before he could finish. 

"Like a brother." Tai finished the sentence for Yamato, whose mouth hung open in an unsatsfied gape. "I know, I feel the same way." He used his remaining strength to reach up and grab Yamato in a brotherly hug. Yamato felt Tai's muscles relax and he slumped back to the bed, his eyes closed and a smile rested on his lips. "Goodbye, Matt..." Tai said lightheartedly. 

"No, that's not it.." Matt said, urgency infiltrating his voice, but he was cut off by the monotonous drone of the heart monitor. Matt burst into tears as he slumped over Tai's prostate body. "I love you...."

Koushirou ran into the room followed by a hoard of nurses who turned off the machines. He looked at his watch. "Yagami Taichi, time of death, 19:42." 

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A/N: wow.. that was fun ^_^ There's more though!! And now I turn to Blaize to write the next chapter!! Luv ya

Trinity ~dreams_in_digital~ aka T-chan ^_^ 


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